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By Aakriti Gupta

Elm Staff Writer

Enactus is a student organization of entrepreneurs at both Washington College and at over hundreds of others schools across the globe. It is volunteer driven, with the vision to make this world a better place to live in for everybody.

The hope to improve the condition around the world became stronger when the Chief Marketing Officer of Enactus at Washington College Brent Longenecker created the project called Soap with Hope. His entrepreneurial and environmentalist traits drove fellow members of Enactus to explore the sanitation conditions of different countries across the world. Under Longenecker’s guidance, the club fully developed the project and created the amazing final results of Soap with Hope.

What is Soap with Hope? It is a project where Enactus students raise money to travel to countries with poor sanitation countries like Haiti, where thousands of people die every year due to the unavailbility of soap and sanitary surroundings. Instead of supplying soap to these places, Longenecker came up with the mission to travel to these countries and teach them how to make their own soap, in order to address the problem from the roots.

The goal had been established, but the most important part of project was to raise the money in order to travel to the required places. Putting our entrepreneurial minds to work, we came up with idea of making our own soap from scratch and selling it here on campus and Chestertown. It required the combined knowledge of a few chemistry majors, but before we knew it we were manufacturing soap in the chemistry lab. There were a few mishaps, things breaking and burning, but eventually we made our way through and came up with over 100 bars of soap in five different flavors. Naturally made soap in natural, avocado and parsley, coffee, beer and oats, and honey, which was my personal favorite, were made available to all on campus on Nov. 5 during Fall Fest. All soaps were priced within $5. The soap was both cheap and extremely beneficial for the skin with cleansing and exfoliating properties.

All the members at Enactus participated actively, using their sales and marketing techniques to sell the soaps for the greater good. It worked out great. Enactus President Sarah Coyle headed the Enactus booth at Fall Fest.

Goal-oriented projects like these teach an extensive range of skills and help us learn more about ourselves. It teaches us how to work as a team, trouble shoot problems, provides experience to handle situations better, and gives hands-on knowledge in sales, marketing, and manufacturing.

The most important aspect of the project was the thought of improving the conditions of another country. It drove us to succeed. All of our hard work, efforts, and time were to make countries like Haiti a better-sanitized and healthier place to live in for the residents. All the money that was raised and that will be raised will all be contributed to help their conditions. It is a unique opportunity to be a part of a venture that has the potential to go places and help people. It has been just two months since I became a part of this organization, and it’s already helping in ways that I never thought it would.